Sap from a maple tree drips into a bucket March 8 at Alley Park in Lancaster. / Matthew Berry/CentralOhio.com

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The Eagle-Gazette Staff

Volunteer Bob Kishler checks a collection bucket on a maple tree March 8 in Alley Park.

Historical maple syrup production

Production numbers are in gallons.

Year

Ohio

U.S.

2013

155,000

3.25 million

2012

100,000

1.90 million

2011

125,000

2.79 million

2010

65,000

1.96 million

2000

34,000

1.30 million

1990

73,000

1.07 million

Source: United States Department of Agriculture and the Ohio State University Extension Office.

Ohio’s changing climate

To show how Ohio’s climate and environment are changing, the Media Network of Central Ohio sought concrete examples showing the state’s environment isn’t what it used to be, regardless of the cause. During the course of a week, we will present several of these examples, but we know we can’t hit them all. If you have a story about the environment to share, tell us via our Facebook page. All the stories from the series will be posted toLancasterEagleGazette.com/climate as they appear online or in print.

Volunteer Bob Kishler carries two nearly full containers of maple sap to the Alley Park sugar shack March 8 to make maple syrup. / Matthew Berry/CentralOhio.com

Noah Akers, Alley Park manager for the Lancaster Parks and Recreation Department, checks the consistency of the maple sap he and volunteers Bob Kishler, Larry Smith and Tim Kirby are boiling down to make maple syrup in the park's sugar shack. / Matthew Berry/ Central Ohio.com

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LANCASTER — No one knows if the warm winter of 2012 was a one-time anomaly or part of a permanent warming cycle, but some Ohio maple syrup producers are watching closely because temperature changes can affect their annual yield.

One producer said the industry could radically change in the next 50 years if warmer weather becomes a pattern.

“Ohio may not be producing maple syrup then,” said Joe Logan, the Ohio Environmental Council’s director of agricultural programs. “That will be sad.”

He said maple syrup production might migrate farther north, where winter temperatures are colder.

Logan is a former member of the Ohio Farmers Association, and his family has been in the maple-tapping business for five generations. He said last year could have been an anomaly but that climate scientists are saying anomalies are becoming the new normal.

“There are 25-, 50- and 100-year floods,” Logan said. “But I’ve already lived through four 100-year floods where we’ve had 5 or 6 inches of rain.”

Vicki Kohli, the Fairfield County Soil and Water Conservation District’s education specialist, said just a 2-degree increase in average temperature could be detrimental to maple trees and other species.

Maple tapping season usually starts at the end of February and runs until mid-March. The ideal conditions are sunny days with temperatures in the 50s followed by nights getting down into the 30s. The warmer days allow the sap to flow in the maple trees before slowing down in the evening. Temperature change can alter the length of tapping season and have a negative effect on Ohio’s annual maple syrup harvest volume, like it did last year when the warm temperatures caused the season to start earlier.

According to the Ohio State University Extension Office, Ohio is the fourth-leading maple syrup producer in the country with numerous species of maple trees used in producing maple syrup. Maple syrup is a $5 million industry for the state with about 900 producers.

The warm 2012 winter led to a decrease in the state’s production from the previous year’s 125,000 gallons to 100,000 gallons, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. But this year’s number rose to 155,000 gallons as Ohio experienced a winter closer to the norm.

Gary Graham, an OSU extension specialist in natural resources and an associate professor, called this past winter a bumper-crop year. He said he has heard the theory of Ohio not producing maple syrup in 50 years, but said it’s hard to say if that could happen.

“Have we had some warm years?” he asked. “Yes. Have we had some perfect years? Yes. You want to look at the average production in Ohio.”

Graham said he’s satisfied if the state production rate is between 90,000 and 125,000 gallons each year. He also said the state’s production has grown substantially and producers are buying more tapping equipment.

Timothy D. Perkins is a research professor and the director of the University of Vermont’s Proctor Maple Research Center who works with the OSU Extension Office. He said while the tapping season may be a little shorter, it would take a 40-year or 50-year sample to know for sure if there is a permanent warming trend in Ohio.

“I’m not too worried right now,” Perkins said.

He said that’s partly because technological advances in tapping have let producers deal with the changes to the tapping season.

Perkins said any permanent weather change probably would not affect smaller Ohio syrup producers but could make it cost prohibitive for larger producers to continue.